Police reportwill fix race’s fate

Press, 4 January 1978, Page 10

Police reportwill fix race’s fate

PA Wellington A police inquiry ■ into the death of a ' young spectator will virutally decide the future of the Porirua motor-cycling grand prix. Kevin Bernard Swain, aged 15, died after being struck by a sidecar during the final practice for the annual grand prix, held on a circuit round the Porirua city centre. The police immediatelj’ stopped the racing. The Porirua City Council works and by-laws committee has been told that the police action was correct.

Mr R. D. Fowles, the president of the Ixion Motor-cycling Club, the organisers' of the event, told the meeting he could not guarantee to the police that another “freak” accident could not happen, and added that criticism of the police was not justified. The Porirua Town Clerk (Mr G. Gandell) said the

council would not make a decision until the results of the police inquiry were available, and police sources have said that the inquiry is not yet complete. In the meantime, the Ixion Club may be bankrupted by|the cancellation of the meeting. “If the sponsprs haggle over paying out for the series, then the club faces a shortfall of over $2000,” said Mr Fowles. The club spent just under $9OOO, primarily on advertising; and $lOOO had been paid to spectators who requested a refund of the $2 gate fee.

Entry fees for competitors must also be refunded. Mr Fowles said the club had only made a marginal profit over the last eight years in which the Porirua grand prix had been run. It was run on a different circuit, but one which the organisers described as safer than that used in previous years.